The group SANT YALLA has just been created. The members are here to join the Banc Villageois and have received their first loans, an initial loan of 50,000 francs CFA for each member. The group is composed of fourteen women, all from the same village. They formed their group by proximity and affinity. They range from 25 to 50 years of age, and they are mothers of at least two children each. The main work of the group is small-scale commerce in various goods, such as seafood products, clothing and accessories, cosmetics, foodstuff, and ice cream for those members having a refrigerator. The new loan will enable the solidarity group to bolster its businesses and to diversify them by purchasing the goods mentioned above.

The group members, in addition to regular payments they make, take part in covering the various expenses of their respective families. And they also raise money to save at their Banc Villageois.

Ms. Fatou BEYE (who is standing at the right in the photo in the second row and wearing a black scarf on her head) is the head of the solidarity group. She is 40 years old, married, and the mother of six children to support. Three of the children attend school. Fatou is developing a business. And with her new loan, she is going to buy and sell perfumes, cosmetics, incense, pagnes (colorful West African cloth), and bed sheets. She has been in this business for three years and has not encountered any problems yet.

Fatou's husband is on travel and comes to see the family only once a year. As a result of this situation, Fatou makes sure the bulk of family expenses are covered, for example: food, health care, and schooling for the children. This does not keep her from making regular loan payments or from increasing her savings each time.

Additional Information

About CAURIE Micro Finance

The mission of CAURIE Micro Finance is to contribute sustainably and to offer microfinance services adapted to impoverished micro-entrepreneurs, primarily women, based on the principles of ‘credit for the poor’ and on microfinance best practices, all while investing in order to become financially independent.

This is a Group Loan

In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default.

Kiva's Field Partners typically feature one borrower from a group. The loan description, sector, and other attributes for a group loan profile are determined by the featured borrower's loan. The other members of the group are not required to use their loans for the same purpose.